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E-PrinceState health officials have confirmed four cases of swine flu in the campus community, the University announced in a statement Tuesday afternoon. Three graduate students and one adult graduate dependent each tested positive for the H1N1 virus.
The four individuals ...
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Anyone else even the slightest bit suspicious that this came out only hours after the week of Reunions and Commencement activities, a week which brought thousands of visitors to campus, came to a close? And, even if the administration really did only just find out this afternoon, it's still frightening given how many people were in such close contact over the past few days. How often did you wash your hands between Thursday and Saturday? Most of the bathrooms on Saturday night were out of soap and paper towels, too...
Hope I don't get sick!
The Science in Society blog (http://ssmag.wordpress.com) has posted a response (http://ssmag.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/new-swine...) to recent swine flu news, putting it in perspective with previous flu pandemics. Here is a post comparing flu intervention in 1918 and today: http://ssmag.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/flu-inter....
An excerpt:
Just how important is starting countermeasures early, and what kind of interventions work? The tragedy of the Spanish flu provides a natural laboratory for public health measures, as cities throughout the US differed both in scale and timing of their interventions.
Medical science in 1918 was still getting on its feet. The majority of older physicians of the time were not educated under the scientific regimen of the Flexnerian revolution. The leading bacteriologists of the day mistakenly believed that influenza was a bacterial disease, and it was not until 1943 when it was recognized that a virus was responsible. As a result, medical intervention in the pandemic was of questionable value, not least because most of the best doctors had been drafted to serve in the military for WWI.
However, nonmedical interventions were also employed. These included quarantines, isolation of the sick in makeshift wards, closure of public gathering places such as churches and schools. Quick action (as measured by when flu cases rose to double the baseline number of cases) had a strong correlation with reduced mortality, and that maintaining the measures was important to keep the disease from spreading.
St. Louis, for example, closed schools and canceled public gatherings early, and maintained quarantines for over ten weeks, leading to a significantly lower mortality rate. However, not all cities were as proactive; the median duration of these interventions was only four weeks, insufficient to protect the population. Some cities were even counterproductive: Philadelphia hosted a military parade to promote war bonds, over the objections of numerous doctors and public health officials. (Anything similar happen on campus recently?) Soon afterwards, it became one of the hardest-hit cities in the US.
Some cool H1N1-related Google widgets: http://ssmag.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/google-on...
i want to know what dept these grad students are in...
Or what dormitory they live in. Seems key.
I know that I came back from reunions with H1N1 and a bunch of my fellow alums are sick (don't know if they've been tested). The good news...the swine flu isn't really any worse than the regular flu. The bad news...princeton doesn't care enough about its alumni to inform them and/or put hand sanitizers out at reunions. Look for Princeton Reunions as a major infections center, significantly aiding in the spread of H1N1 throughout the country.
At Reunions you are interacting with others out of a pool of 19,999 who have traveled to Princeton from elsewhere. Reunions has great potential as an infection center to begin with. It does not seem like the health of three graduate students (who were likely not going to be at Reunions events anyway) would have had a major effect.
Then again, despite the flaw in alum's reasoning, I do think that the University ought to have announced this as soon as it was confirmed.
Hahaha, Plane, are you suggesting that graduate students don't go to Reunions? We make up practically half of the current student population there, considering that we stay over the summer and are nearly all over 21 (unlike most undergrads). Reunions is basically alumni, graduating seniors, and graduate students. Apologizes if I misread.
I hope the outbreak is isolated, and it appears that's the case.
Its a great idea to suppy hand sanitizers, wipes at functions like reunions/funtions. Since this new swine flu is a new development maybe its just been over looked. I think you should write a letter and suggest it. Regardless, I'd like to share a very funny graphic regarding swine flu. I hope it brings a smile to your face.
http://typobounty.com/Funny/Swine-Flu.htm